


What's It Like?

by turntechgodOFhead



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Keith gets hurt, Lance is a doctor, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-18 05:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14205714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turntechgodOFhead/pseuds/turntechgodOFhead
Summary: You never really stop learning things in life. Keith figures that out after the crash.The handsome Cuban doctor is a plus.





	1. Chapter 1

"What's it like? Being in love, I mean.."

 

"It's like.. It's like the sun on your back on a chilly day. Or the crunch of leaves when it’s just starting to turn to autumn. Only it hurts."

 

"Why does it hurt?"

 

"Because you want to be selfish, but when you love someone, they have to come first, so you can't keep them all to yourself. Sometimes you have to break your own heart so that you can give them what they need."

 

"That's unfair."

 

"Yeah?" Shiro sighed. "I guess you're right, there. but it's worth it."

 

Shiro looked at the picture of Allura in his wallet and his heart sank. When she told him she was moving to New York he didn't realize she meant that she was cutting off all ties with her life here, starting completely fresh in the big city. But it suited her, that life she went for. He had known she'd be happier there. His little brother didn't know she wasn't coming back. Keith would every few days ask when Allura would return, and Shiro would just whisper, "I don't know."

 

"One day you'll find somebody who means more to you than anything, even yourself, Keith. And when you do you'll get what I mean."

Keith thought that was stupid.

 

+++

 

Waking up in a room that was all white and definitely not his own, Keith tried to sit up, but his body felt like lead. A quick glance around made it obvious this was a hospital room. What had he just been dreaming about?

 

Shiro.

 

Why did that memory come back? He hadn't seen Shiro in weeks.. Shiro left him, just like Allura did to him, but at least Allura gave Shiro some warning before she darted away. Shiro left without a word.

 

A man in a pristine lab coat entered the room with the most gorgeous smile Keith had ever seen as he noticed Keith was awake. "You're up! That's great! Can you speak at all? I'm Doctor McClain, but you can call me Lance if you'd like. I want you to feel comfortable around me, after all we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other.. What's your name?"

"Keith. Kogane." Keith spoke as best as he could. He wished he could remember how he got here, and he hated feeling so weak. Vulnerable.

 

"Do you have anyone we can contact for you, Mr. Kogane? Relatives, a significant other, a roommate?"

 

Shiro was the only family and friend he had, and he was gone. "No, uh, there's no one," Keith murmured.

 

The doctor scribbled something out on his clipboard. “Can you remember anything that happened?”

 

“No.. no, what happened? Why am I here?”

 

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Mr. Kogane, but you were in a car accident three days ago. You don’t have to worry too much about that, there was a traffic camera at the intersection and it looks like you were on your motorbike obeying the traffic laws when the car came out of nowhere and hit you. The driver is fine and is, I believe, offering to pay for any damages to your vehicle and your medical expenses. Which is especially good because according to our records.. You don’t have insurance.”

 

Records..? Oh. So him asking for Keith’s name was just a courtesy. Of course, they already knew who he was, they just had to look up his vehicle registration. That made sense.. Keith nodded at Lance and sighed. “So, what exactly is wrong with me? When can I go?”

 

He didn’t end up really listening to all of the words that Lance spouted off next, and he doubted he would have known what most of it meant anyway. The drugs in his system wore him down, and he dozed off unintentionally.

 

+++

 

When Keith woke up again, there was someone sitting in the chair in the corner of the room. He was a big guy, with a headband on. Keith felt as if he had seen the man before, but he wasn't sure where..

 

"You're awake..! Keith, right? I'm Hunk.. I wanted to see you, make sure you're okay.. I'm so sorry for hitting you, I looked away from the road for a minute to try to answer a phone call from my mom and suddenly, bam! I should have just waited to call her back.. I'm so sorry.."

 

"Oh.. you... you're the one who hit me?" Keith strained to remember how it happened, and he could remember Hunk's face, at least. Only that time it looked a lot more scared. And there was blood everywhere.

 

Keith's hand came up to tug on the IV chord in his arm, wincing as it stung. Hunk was quickly over to stop him. "You shouldn't do that, you'll get hurt.. worse, that is.." He looked so ashamed of himself.. Keith was sure he never intended to hurt another person.

 

Keith's hands started shaking. He felt helpless. He still couldn't feel his lower body and could barely move even his arms, but he tried to maneuver himself over so he could curl in on himself.

 

"I want to go home.." He murmured.

 

Lance entered, white coat flowing a bit behind him as he swiftly walked into the room clipboard in his hand still. He checked everything, things Keith didn't know really.. well, anything about. He watched as the doctor walked around him and switched out the bags on the IV. Shaky hands reached up to grasp at Lance's coat.

 

"How long til I'm better?"

 

The sigh from the doctor was enough for him to know it wouldn't be soon. "I can't guarantee anything right now, but we'll do some tests and I can make an estimate.." Lance places his hand over Keith's. "Can you feel anything in your legs, or move them at all?" Keith tried to kick his leg out, but couldn't feel anything, and he shook his head. Lance's expression became more worried and he frowned. "We'll do tests to see how damaged the nerves are in the morning.."

 

So.. if they were too damaged.. Keith had to hope he would be able to walk again. The look on Hunk’s face as they talked..

 

“I’ll pay for whatever treatments he needs, Lance.”

 

The two that  _ could _ walk left the room to talk about the treatments Keith could potentially need and the costs, leaving Keith alone with his thoughts. He tried to reach up to adjust the dosage, hoping maybe he could spare everyone the hassle of having to take care of him and waste money on him. It wasn’t like he had anyone left for it to matter..

 

But his fingers couldn’t quite reach the dial from where he was positioned on the surprisingly comfortable hospital bed. Maybe when Hunk returned he could ask him to.. No. A sweet guy like that wouldn’t be willing to. If he asked Hunk, he’d surely just end up in a mental hospital too after they finished with him here.

 

+++

 

“We think you should be able to walk again, but it’s going to take surgeries, and time. A few months at the least..”

 

“That’s better than nothing, I guess..” 

 

“You’ll also probably be a bit wobbly, but with practice it should become easier.”

 

Keith nodded, staring at his own still-numb feet. He didn’t want to look at Lance’s face. He just wanted to let go of things. He still was thinking maybe everything was just a bad dream..

 

But this dream was lasting forever. Hunk at least was coming to visit him often, and Lance would chat when he had the time. Lance never said anything about it when Keith would grab onto his arm or coat for support, needing that feeling of closeness and control. Within a week they were the closest friends Keith had had since.. Well, since Shiro left.

 

+++

 

Shiro kissed Keith’s scraped knee after the seven year old fell on pavement, crying about the pain.

 

“Hush, hush, Keith. It’s okay. I’ll kiss it all better and we’ll go get some ice and a bandaid, okay?” His soft lips pressed to the spot that was just barely bleeding. He picked up his little brother and carried him into their house, laying him on the couch as he went to get a bandaid.

 

Keith sniffled and looked at the spot, waiting for his big brother to return. He wanted to cry, and whine, but he didn’t want to be a burden. He knew Shiro didn’t deserve that. He could hear Shiro crying when he thought Keith was asleep.

 

Shiro returned with a bandaid with a Lion on it, putting it on the scrape and then pouring ice cubes from the freezer into a ziploc bag, which he pressed to Keith’s wound.

 

“It’s okay, Keith. I’ll always be here to protect you.”

 

Liar.

 

+++

 

Keith struggled to walk even with the crutches. Lance walked by his side, offering to help him walk, but the offer was refused. Insisting on doing it on his own, Keith continued to struggle as he walked  forward. He started to tilt forward, toward the ground, shaking too much. Just before he could smash into the ground, Lance caught him.

 

“That was really good, Keith! You’re recovering well!”

 

Keith shrugged and tried to balance back up on his own again. He inwardly cursed himself for having to be saved by anyone else.

 

“Let’s head back into your room, you’ve made a lot of progress today but you should take a break..”

 

Keith shook his head so hard he felt dizzy and groaned in discomfort.

 

“You know, the doctor knows best. Come on.” Doctor McClain led him back to his room, ignoring his complaints. A meal was already on the bedside table and Hunk was reading a magazine in his usual seat. He visited weekly to check up on Keith. Keith smiled a little upon seeing him.

 

“Hey..” He waved weakly, and Hunk waved back with a sunshine-like smile. “What are you reading this time?”

 

Hunk turned the magazine to show him the recipe for a lasagna that made his mouth water just to look at. Then Keith looked back to the food from the hospital’s cafeteria. It didn’t look nearly as delectable. Hunk cleared his throat loudly and when Keith looked back at him he had a little tupperware container with brownies in it.

 

“You didn’t have to make that for me..”

 

“I wanted to show you and Lance my new recipe!”

 

Lance’s on-call pager beeped and he sighed. “I hate to leave without trying them, they look amazing, but apparently we’ve got someone who needs urgent care. His entire right arm is.. Missing. They’ve got him under anesthesia but I need to get down there quickly!” Lance hurriedly left the room after his brief excuse.

 

Whoever it was.. Keith pitied them. He was going to make a full recovery, but someone missing an arm..? You can’t exactly grow that back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith said he didn't have any family.  
> Shiro said his only family was Keith.
> 
> Keith needs better excuses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is shorter than the last, I was trying to write but just couldn't focus on it.

    “He’s lost a lot of blood, we need to act fast. Someone tighten those restraints, he’s waking up and if he moves the bullet could get lodged in his spine. Get some morphine into him if you can, he’s been shot so he’s already in enough pain as is. After he’s stable we can start looking into prosthetic arms.” Lance’s voice didn’t waver even as the nurses and doctors around him scurried around to get to work on the man who had just been brought in after running into a convenience store half-dead. There was no time for Lance to panic, it would just waste up the little time they had to save the man.  
  
    Lance wasn’t the kind of guy to give up on a patient. Even when he couldn’t do anything else he wouldn’t stop searching for ways to help someone in need. Keith knew that much about him just from his few weeks there. Lance was an everyday superhero.  
  
    Keith and Hunk munched on brownies while putting together a puzzle Hunk had brought. Pieces were scattered all over Keith’s hospital bed and some fell to the floor whenever he moved. “Lance must see a lot of stuff, huh..? But he always seems so happy.”  
  
    “Yeah.. He and I have actually been friends since second grade. He always wanted to save people, y’know? And when we found out being Spider-Man was impossible, he figured out a realistic way to save lives. His parents were worried about the costs of schooling but he got tons of scholarships because he always did things after school in high school, like he’d help at homeless shelters and stuff like that. We both worked at a summer camp one year, never doing that again,” Hunk chuckled before continuing, “Lance loves his job. He helps a lot of people. It always tears him up when he loses a patient.. But sometimes it’s out of his hands.  
  
    “But he still loves the job, because he knows that he saves more people than he doesn’t, and some people can’t be saved. He’s friendly with all of his patients, but you’re the first one he’s gotten this close to as far as I know.. But you’re also the first patient of his that’s been in here because of his own friend.”  
  
    The puzzle was almost done, just one more piece.. Keith looked all over the bed. No puzzle piece. “Shit, did the last piece fall?” He changed the subject, the tense feeling after Hunk’s last sentence shattered as Hunk laughed as he bent down to pick it up from the floor. He handed the little piece to Keith with a smile on his face.  
  
    “You know.. You’re like this piece, Keith. Before you were in Lance’s life we could still see a picture, but it wasn’t complete.” As Keith pressed the piece into its spot he looked up at Hunk to listen to his words. “With you here, it’s better than before.”  
  
+  +  +  
  
    Shiro tried to sit up, sharp pain in his arm and back stopping him. He groaned and tried again, forcing himself upward to look around. The room was still filled with nurses, and he heard a clink, seeing a bullet drop onto a little metal pan. A doctor smiled at him.  
  
    “Good thing you didn’t wake up any sooner, or that could’ve been messy.”  
  
    “Wasn’t it already messy..?” Shiro murmured as he took in his surroundings.  
  
    “Well, yes, but considering you just sat up we can safely say that being shot didn’t paralyze you, and you’re lucky the bullet wasn’t an inch to the right. What’s your name? Can you remember anything that happened?”  
  
    “Takashi Shirogane..” He strained to remember how he got hurt.. The last thing he remembered was clocking out of work and going to pick up dinner for him and Keith. “I just remember going to get dinner for me and my little brother, but I don’t think I made it home..” He hoped Keith wasn’t too worried.  
  
    Lance wrote everything down. "Could you tell me his name? We can contact him and let him know you're okay."  
  
    "Keith Kogane. We're half brothers, so different last names.."  
  
    The clipboard fell from Lance's hands in shock. He quickly bent to pick it back up. "Sorry, I didn't expect that.." Lance wrote Keith's name down by Shiro's. "Keith didn't mention he had any family members.."  
  
    "You know my little brother?"  
  
    "Keith has been here for two months.."  
  
    "But.. We were at home last night?"  
  
    Lance shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that's impossible. Keith has been here for two months since he was in an accident.. I'll let him know you're here. Rest up.." He left the room, briskly walking to Keith's room. He watched in the doorway as they completed their puzzle before entering. "Keith.. Do you have a brother named Takashi Shirogane?"  
  
    Keith froze, eyes wide. "How do you know that name?"  
  
    "Because I just had to pull a bullet out of him and he gave me your name for family members.. You said you didn't have any family?"  
  
    "I haven't seen Shiro since he left me last year without saying anything. At first I looked for him, I even filed a  Missing Person's report, but the police.. They wouldn't do anything. And then I got a text from his phone saying he went after his ex girlfriend Allura, and when I tried to call him after that the number was disconnected. He didn't - He didn't love his own little brother more than her. So I don't have any family left."  
  
    Lance sighed. "Well, he doesn't remember anything. He thinks he left to go get dinner for you both last night. He has no memory of what happened in the time he's been gone.. Keith, are you sure he meant to leave you? Someone else could have texted you from his phone.."  
  
    With an angry huff, Keith turned onto his side, the puzzle breaking apart again and scattering all over. "He could be lying."  
  
    "I'm not going to tell you what to believe.. But usually people who are lying don't show up with bullet wounds and an arm missing."  
  
    Keith tensed when he heard the injuries of his brother but stayed turned away from his doctor - his friend. He didn't want to deal with it right now. After all of this time, Shiro shows up and says he doesn't remember a thing? Keith was alone for so long..  
  
    Keith needed a better excuse than amnesia.


End file.
